4 paths
oh you clicked it. now you get to hear all sorts of crazy! no wait. this needs music, how can i get music on this damn thing? "they stand for the number 4, and the 4 paths as an emphasis to the dualistic nature of reality of which the effect is 'choice'." so what did i just say there? "the 4 paths", or ways of doing things, ways of getting from one place to another. "as an emphasis to", literally just making a bigger deal of the matter. "the dualistic nature of reality", reality is inherently 2 fold in just about everything. as the tao te ching says: "When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other. Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything. Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect. When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever." - lao tsu "of which the effect is choice" - go look at a nautical star! north west, east and south. this is the most basic of choice factors. if you have only one point you have 'being' or existence. if you have two points you have... bit more, you have duality but you are forever caught between point a and point b. back and forth. finally when you have 4 points you have 'choice'. sill confused, play any video game. if you only go from point a to point be the game is pretty boring, right? what happens when you have choice in where you go in the game? suddenly its a lot better!! so the occuria are a symbol of choice then. choices of what? simply put - the four archetypes of the mature mind. in the story of the occuria the men who became the occuria start off as misery, pain, war and struggle. by their journey's end their names were King, Warrior, Magician and Lover. they represent the choice to better ones life. from the mire to what fits us holistically. personally i see that as the goal to life. when you see a problem you fix it. and you become better for it. now the occuria did this with travel. they traveled and traveled until they were immortal, and when they were done they left this world for other places. more important than immortality is the fact that through their experiences they transmuted the great weights they were named after and carried with them into new identities and ideally would have manifested themselves holistically through these identities they made for themselves. in a way - ((wait for it)) - they role played - they changed their choices, then their patterns, then their habits, and thus how they interacted with the world and this changed them into new identities, people empowered of choice rather than living by coping and survival. this goes a bit further into a book i read several times over. just so happens to be titled "King Warrior Magician Lover" interesting little tidbits to look at here. check out the pictures. The battle for balance is inside- nature, thought, and belief all lead to action. Each archetype represents a different inward battle. There are two primary battles: child verse adult, and good nature verse evil nature. The purpose is to acknowledge that it is always the right time to do the right thing, be an example, act with courage, become an expert, be wise, instruct, listen, and love. That is the way of the Mature Masculine and the Mature Feminine, to have unity and connectedness with all, to be all things to all people.